Basic Trope: A heroic character who is hated.
- Straight: Bob is wrongly accused of robbing banks and the townspeople hate him.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob is wrongly accused of everything and the whole world hates him.
- Even though Bob's True Companions are well liked, everyone wonders why they would associate themselves with him and assume that they would have to keep him on a tight leash, even though they trust him completely.
- Bob is a heroic individual who saved the world multiple times, adopts homeless puppies and is wholly devoted to fighting injustice. The public blames him for all of the world's problems and believes him to be a walking embodiment of evil. There is even a religion with him as an equivalent of Satan and his Arch-Enemy Vlad Scarlord as The Messiah.
- Bob's very existence prevented the universe from exploding, yet people accuse him of being a genocidal maniac because his birth coincided with the time that the universe nearly exploded.
- Downplayed:
- Bob is distrusted due to his secretive nature.
- Bob is considered a bit crazy by most people because he fights things that are Invisible to Normals.
- Bob is hated by an In-Universe Vocal Minority.
- Justified:
- Bob comes an intimating appearance and demeanor.
- Rumors of his wrongdoings are heavily pushed by a Villain with Good Publicity.
- Bob does heroic acts, but without the knowledge Bob has gained, people seem to think attacking that diamond mine was a little too close to evil to go unquestioned. This snowballs into an outright fear of Bob, thinking that he might attack anyone or anything.
- Bob runs around town wearing a mask and keeping his identity a secret, which to some feels a little villainous.
- Bob used to be a bad guy.
- Bob is an Anti-Hero of the morally ambiguous variety.
- People keep catching Bob doing bad things, but they fail to see the true context behind his acts of alleged villainy.
- The town had had so many so called heroes turn out to be the secret masterminds, and the townsfolk think Bob is no different.
- Inverted: Villain with Good Publicity.
- Subverted:
- Bob is accused of murder, but Alice calls out the accusers and says Bob is innocent.
- Alternatively, it turns out the accusations weren't so far off after all...
- When Bob doggedly continues to do good deeds, even in spite of all the scorn he gets, the townspeople start to seriously doubt and question the accusations against Bob and eventually come to accept him as a hero.
- Double Subverted:
- ...So the Big Bad has Alice silenced.
- ...but Bob's Tragic backstory reveals he's a Broken Cutie whose treatment from others isn't justified.
- Parodied:
- Bob is purported as the cause of Global Warming.
- Every time something bad happens, it's always Bob's fault. Always.
- Bob is the ultimate do-gooder and everyone can see that, but still refuses to trust anybody wearing a mask.
- Zig Zagged:
- Bob is originally hated by the townspeople due to his mysterious nature, but eventually gains their trust by fighting crime. However, his actions, though good, end up causing massive property damage and they begin to hate him for that. He fixes the way he fights crime so that he doesn't cause unnecessary damage and pays for everything he breaks, which earns the trust of the people back, but a misunderstanding due to an evil doppelganger cause them to distrust him again.
- Speechs against Bob are sometimes meet with thundering applause, but other times meet with jeering and booing.
- Averted: Bob is immediately and continuously loved by the people he protects.
- Enforced: "Every hero is always beloved and respected. Let's try something different."
- Lampshaded: "Wow Bob, you really can't catch a break, can you?"
- Invoked:
- Bob's public alter ego gave himself the bad image so as his (potential) enemies would assume he was on their side.
- A Villain with Good Publicity plays the victim every time Bob tries to stop his Evil Plans, so that people will think that Bob was Evil All Along.
- Exploited:
- A Villain with Good Publicity uses Bob's bad reputation to his advantage by playing the victim to get more people on his side and/or reinforce the idea that Bob's a bad guy, allowing him to get away with his schemes.
- Bob deliberately tarnishes his reputation even further for his own agenda.
- Defied:
- Bob shows up to charities, does volunteer work, etc. So that the civilians will know he's on their side.
- People are not buying into the negative stories against Bob.
- The news outlets refuse to paint Bob as a bad guy without concrete proof.
- The local authorities step in to reassure the population that Bob is innocent.
- Discussed:"I just saved their asses, and now they do that to me. Bunch of ungrateful bastards."
"Well, you can't please everyone, and you still need to do your job. Or you could just ditch the 'hero' business, if you like." - Conversed:"This character just saved their asses, and he's hated for it? That makes no sense."
"It's a good source of drama. I wonder what Bob will do." - Deconstructed: Bob has such a horrible reputation, that no one ever trusts him at all, even though he's completely innocent of the crimes he's said to have committed. Bob suffers a Despair Event Horizon and later decided it's OK to make a Face–Heel Turn.
- Bob has to work from the shadows, because he'd be lynched if the public ever found out he was still at it.
- After being vilified by the people he helps, Bob says "Screw This, I'm Outta Here" and ditches the city. This gives the Big Bad the chance he needs to carry out the next phase of his evil plan.
- Reconstructed: Bob will not let his bad publicity sway him, and continues doing what's right, no matter how thankless a job it may be. Eventually, his determination and his good actions pay off, people finally start to see him for what he truly is and sympathize with him.
- Played For Laughs: People keep confusing Bob with the villain even though they look absolutely nothing alike.
- Played For Drama: All of the negative publicity in his life puts a strain on Bob's mental health, and soon he finally decides that if everyone's going to treat him like the enemy, then he'll be the enemy.
- Played For Horror:
- Bob completely snaps from all the ungratefulness and distrust and becomes a bloodier enemy than the ones he fought.
- Bob saves the world and has about a nanosecond to catch his breath before the civilians surrounding him capture him and lynch him, and he's forced to either die a painful death or absolutely render the civilians to bits and pieces and live with the horrors of doing so.
- Implied: Bob rescues someone. They don't seem too grateful.
Back to Hero with Bad Publicity
